BIRTHDAY boy Maciej Janowski was Swindon’s nemesis last night as his paid maximum inspired the Pirates to a 56-35 home victory over a stuttering Robins team.

The young Pole, celebrating his 23rd birthday, didn’t drop a point to an opponent against his former club while Darcy Ward and Vaclav Milik both weighed in with paid 10 to inflict a heavy defeat.

While Peter Kildemand and Dakota North performed manfully to score 12+1 and 9 respectively, an under the weather Troy Batchelor managed just one and Nick Morris was twice beaten by reserve Kyle Newman in a disappointing display.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, we should perform better than that and I’m disappointed by the performance from some of the boys tonight,” team manager Alun Rossiter said.

“Troy did come to me before the meeting and said he wasn’t feeling well, so that could be part of it, but it wasn’t a good performance from everyone. Peter did his job, Dak did his job and Stevie did alright but the rest struggled a little.

“We seem to struggle down here and I don’t know why, I really don’t know why.

“We’ve got Lakeside next and it’s a home meeting which we need to win. We need to be taking maximum points from all of our home meetings now if we’re going to make the play-offs.”

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The meeting got off to a controversial start after Kildemand gave Ward a big bump on turn one of the opening heat, forcing the Aussie to retire and grudgingly leave the track as he appeal to the referee. His protestations matter not, however, as the Robins pair of Kildemand and North cruised to a maximum.

After an aborted attempt at heat two, with Kyle Newman rolling, both Robins missed the start of the re-run before Steve Worrall rounded Benji Compton but couldn’t catch Newman at the front, with Nathan Greaves pushing hard but missing out on a point.

Batchelor was squeezed out by both Janowski and Shamek Pawlicki in turn one of his first ride as the Polish Pirates took a 5-1 over the Robins skipper and Swindon guest Richie Worrall, but North’s second victory in as many rides, coming from a superb first corner move on Milik, levelled the scores at the first track grading.

Janowski went through the tapes after Morris moved at the start of heat five, forcing him to go off 15 metres, but that didn’t stop the Pole as he first storming through Morris before winding it on and passing Richie Worrall to join partner Ward for a maximum which gave their side the lead once again.

The Poole advantage stayed at four after heat six was shared, Kildemand winning but Batchelor failing to score once again, before Morris moving at the start caused havoc once again as his twitchy hand forced Grajczonek through the tapes. As with Janowski, the Australian made quick progress through Greaves at the back and soon set about Morris bit couldn’t find a route through.

A maximum for Pawlicki and Milik left the hosts 10 points ahead but, with tactical rides not available in heat nine, hard charging Greaves was holding second behind Steve Worrall before slipping off on his own and being excluded. Compton ran into the back of the Robins man after he slipped off, with the young Swindon rider walking away holding his shoulder.

The eventual running of the heat ended with Steve Worrall beating Compton in a match race, after Newman pulled out before the start, with the resulting 3-2 meaning the Robins chances of using a black and white helmet were temporarily gone.

Ward and Grajczonek’s 5-1 allowed Kildemand to come out in black and white in heat 11, but the heat was soon aborted as Pawlicki slowed and was thumped into the fence by a helpless Morris who had no time to react. Both riders walked away, with Pawlicki excluded, leaving Janowski as the only Pirate trying to stop Kildemand’s pursuit of double points.

The Pole limited the damage with a victory in what was a Robins 5-3, with the following heat shared, before Ward’s final corner move on Batchelor stretched the home advantage to 13 with two to go.

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A 5-1 from Milik and Newman from the tapes ruined any chance of a consolation point in the penultimate race, before Ward and Janowski completed the job.

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